A round-up of the Plunket Shield matches that ended on February 19, 2014
ESPNcricinfo staff19-Feb-2015Rearguard centuries from Derek de Boorder and Jesse Ryder in Otago’s first innings provided rich dividends as they beat Wellington by six wickets.Ryder’s stroke-filled 108 off 141 balls was the only score from the top-six that was better than 37. Luckily for them, the No. 7 de Boorder came up with his best first-class score of 146, with 23 fours and a six. Their efforts lifted Otago from a dicey 130 for 5 to claim a significant lead of 105 runs. It was the support that had been needed after their bowlers Mark Craig and Craig Smith shared six wickets between them to ensure only Tom Blundell and Jeetan Patel, coming in at No. 9, made half-centuriesWellington’s reply was haphazard in their second innings as left-arm seamer Neil Wagner ran through the top three. Michael Pollard presented resistance, and his 82 off 130 eventually became a support act to the captain James Franklin’s resolute 139 off 312.That recovery provided an interesting target of 214. But Ryder and de Boorder’s second fifty-plus scores of the match – 65 off 67 balls and 58 off 59 respectively – sealed victory in under 50 overs.An all-round batting effort led by Jeet Raval’s century and legspinner Tarun Nethula with eight wickets for the match and set up Auckland’s 10-wicket victory over Canterbury.Put in by Auckland, Canterbury managed 268 as their first innings suffered from the stop-start syndrome. They lost Peter Fulton and Greg Dawson before the score reached 30 but half-centuries from Ronnie Hira and Andrew Ellis took them to a respectable 268. Nethula had got rid of Ellis for 53 and finished off the tail to claim 4 for 68.Auckland replied with a massive 491, courtesy of Raval’s 236-ball 126 which included 16 fours. There could have been two further centurions but Robert O’Donnell fell for 95 and Donovan Grobbelaar on an agonising 99. Todd Astle with 4 for 97 was the pick of the bowlers.With a lead of 223 behind them, Nethula and Michael Bates, with additional support from Dean Bartlett denied Canterbury the opportunity to build substantial partnerships in their second innings. They lost three wickets before the score moved from 78 to 79 and needed No. 10 Matt Henry to provide the highest score of the innings – 48 off 71 balls.It meant Auckland were left with a target of 44 and it was overhauled by Raval and his opening partner Anaru Kitchen in eight overs